What’s that noise, doctor?

A snapping hip, or coxa saltans, is characterized by a usually painful snapping phenomenon during hip flexion and extension, as described in “Snapping hip caused by a venous hemangioma of the gluteus maximus muscle: a case report”, Lin et al. The causes of snapping hip can be grouped into external, internal or intra-articular origin. Since each cause represents a distinct pathogenesis and may consequently require different surgical interventions, accurate diagnosis is a prerequisite to successful treatment.

A team of doctors from the National Cheng Kung University Medical College and Hospital, Taiwan have published a case in Journal of Medical Case Reports of an intramuscular tumor located close to the gluteus maximus insertion around the greater trochanter, masquerading as a snapping hip.

Read the case report in full to discover how they successfully stopped the curious phenomenom occurring in their 23-year-old patient.